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Missa pro defunctis a 6 'Requiem'

Introduction

Duarte Lôbo (whose name was Latinized as Eduardus Lupus and should not be confused with that of his Spanish near-contemporary Alonso Lobo) was born about 1565 and died in 1646 in Lisbon. Like Magalhães (c.1571–1652), Cardoso (c.1566–1650) and a number of other leading Portuguese musicians of the period, Lôbo studied at Évora Cathedral under Manuel Mendes (c.1547–1605). It is possible that it was Mendes who introduced them all to the Victoria Requiem. Lôbo later became mestre de capela at Évora before moving to Lisbon where he served in the same capacity at the Hospital Real and, by 1594, at the cathedral. He kept the latter post for over forty years, much honoured by the Royal Court, and became the most esteemed and widely performed Portuguese composer of his time.

A full picture of Lôbo as a composer is denied us because much of his music was destroyed in the Lisbon earthquake of 1755. From what survives he seems to have been relatively Renaissance-based, even by Portuguese standards, preferring single-choir polyphony to double-choir antiphony. Even his eight-voice Requiem (published in 1621), though originally printed for two separate choirs, in fact has few passages where all eight voices are not employed together. This penchant for sonority is equally on display in the probably later six-voice Requiem (published in 1639). Instead of Victoria’s scoring of SSATTB, Lôbo preferred the slightly thicker sound of SAATTB, in which he gave the chant, when he used it, to the single soprano part in long notes. The ‘In memoria’, the truncated Sequentia, the ‘Hostias’ and the final Responsorium are scored for four voices or fewer.

Whether writing for six voices or four, Lôbo was capable of some highly original turns of phrase, at a date when many modern commentators might be forgiven for assuming that everything possible in the Renaissance idiom had been long since tried and exhausted. In the three polyphonic statements of the Agnus Dei, for example, in which the soprano part effectively sings the same notes three times, Lôbo’s masterly control not only produces a succession of beautiful chords (especially in the second statement), but at the same time ensures that the music moves inevitably forward to the final ‘sempiternam’. The Graduale is also remarkable for its expressive dissonances, always carefully prepared as was appropriate for a Requiem, yet never predictable.

"From the split second that the opening Requiem aeternam chant is heard, every listener is inevitably transported. It is a classic instance of the power of music to communicate without reserve." (Peter Phillips)

Give them eternal rest, O Lord,
and let perpetual light shine on them.
A hymn in Zion is fitting for you, O God,
and a vow will be repaid you in Jerusalem;
hear my prayer.
All flesh will come to you.
Give them eternal rest, O Lord,
and let perpetual light shine on them.

Lord Jesus Christ, King of glory,
free the souls of all the faithful dead
from the punishments of hell,
and the deep pit.
Free them from the lion’s mouth,
so that the jaws of hell shall not swallow
them and they shall not fall into darkness;
but let Saint Michael the standard-bearer
bring them forth into the holy light
that long ago you promised Abraham
and his seed.
We offer you sacrifices
and prayers of praise, O Lord:
accept them on behalf of those souls
whom we remember today:
Lord, make them
cross over from death into the life
that long ago you promised Abraham
and his seed.

Lamb of God, you take away the sins
of the world, give them rest.
Lamb of God, you take away the sins
of the world, give them rest.
Lamb of God, you take away the sins
of the world, give them eternal rest.

Lord, let eternal light shine on them
among your saints, for ever,
since you are merciful.
Give them eternal rest, O Lord,
and let perpetual light shine on them
among your saints, for ever,
since you are merciful.

Remember me, O God,
for my life is as a breath of wind;
nor let the eyes of man behold me.
I have called to you, O Lord, from the depths:
O Lord, hear my voice;
nor let the eyes of man behold me.
Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy. May they rest in peace.
Amen.